miss dosages. I didn’t double up on dosages and I didn’t stop my medication, no matter how sick it made me. I always talked it over with my doctor first.
Today, treatment is so much easier than in those early days I experienced. Take for example the HIV drug Biktarvy. This once-a-day pill can be taken any time of the day (with or without food) and on the go, if you have a busy schedule, making them easy to fit into your life no matter your routine.
Honestly, my early life with HIV never has to be your experience. HIV medications are nothing short of remarkable. Pill loads are smaller, even once-a-day pills like Biktarvy. Side effects are less. The earlier one starts treatment, the better. That’s why you must get tested for HIV.
Getting one’s virus suppressed is the single most important thing about living with HIV. Then keeping it suppressed is the second most important thing, and these two can only happen if you take your medication as prescribed. With that combination, you can live a healthy life. Managing HIV becomes more like a chronic illness rather than a deadly disease.
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That choice is right in front of you. Get tested, get in treatment, and stay in treatment. Let me tell you what is remarkable about HIV treatment today. If your viral load is undetectable, meaning if the HIV virus particles in your blood are 200 millimeters or less, for at least six months, you cannot transmit HIV to your partner sexually. Let’s stop making HIV this scary disease when it can simply be a chronic illness. Yes, undetectable equals untransmittable.
With that said, the only thing left to say is:
1. Get tested.
2. Get into treatment.
3. Comply with the treatment plan.
4. Learn about HIV.
5. Ask questions when you don’t know.
6. Co-manage your disease with your doctor. If your doctor doesn’t hear you, then get another doctor.
These are the keys to my success, living with HIV/AIDS.
Rae Lewis-Thornton is an Emmy Award-winning AIDS Activist. She is the first African-American woman to tell her story of living with AIDS on a national magazine cover story, Essence December 1994. She has been featured on countless other tv shows and magazines. Nightline, Oprah Winfrey Show, CNN, Essence, Huffington Post Live, HLN News, O’ Magazine, Woman’s Day, Ebony, Jet, HIV Plus, POZ, Heart and Soul, Glamour and the list goes on and on. For over 20 years, she has traveled worldwide challenging stereotypes and myths around HIV/AIDS. Rae is a blogger and uses social media heavily to educate about HIV. She is the author of two books and is currently completing her memoir, Unprotected. Rae is an ordained minister, and jewelry and knit accessory designer of her namesake line RLT Collection. She has been living with HIV for 34 years and AIDS for 26 years. Follower her on Instagram and Twitter @raelt.